Orchha

We met in the morning at 9.15am for our trip to Orchha which consisted of a mini van ride to the station then a 5 hour train ride to Jhansi and a 40 minute rickshaw ride to Orchha. We arrived at around 3pm and went straight to the restaurant and ordered lunch then checked into our rooms. After lunch we had our orientation walk through the main street then had free time to look around. We ended up at a little rooftop restaurant where we had some masala chai with a great view over the palace complex. We met up with Mary and Phillip on our way out and ended up spending the evening talking to them, Gi and some of the local guides from Orchha. We also met Badam's younger brother and our local guide for the next day Indu. Indu managed to procure some rum which Gi shared with us.

6th December, we met at 9am and walked to the palace complex where we had a guided tour by Indu through 2 of the palaces. The first palace was the Raj Mahal which had frescos inspired by the Ramayana, Lord Vishnu and Lord Krishna. Our guide told us the story of when Krishna stole the milkmaids clothes as there was a picture of it in the fresco. We passed the hotel which is in one of the palaces and visited the Jehangir Mahal which was built for the Emperor Jehangir by Raj Bir Singh Deo, the local ruler. It was only used for one day as the Raj gave it to the Emperor as a gift and after staying one night he went to Lahore where he died. We had a group photo taken at the front gate then we were able to climb up to the top floor where we had great views over Orchha.

After the tour we caught tuk-tuks to Taragram, and intrepid sponsored NGO employing local tribal women to make paper products from cotton scraps.  We had a tour around the facility which ended in the shop where we were goinjg to order some business cards, but they were too busy at the present time so we just bought a couple of handmade paper books. Back in Orchha we had free time and David and I had lunch at Bhola Restaurant. We both had the Thali and a water and Catriona had a chai, all for under $6. After lunch we walked up a steep set of stairs to the Chatturbuj Mandir (Vishnu temple) which was built to enshrine the image of Rama. It is now in ruins but we had a great view over Orchha. After wandering around for a while admiring the architecture of the temple we set off for the Cenotaphs. There are 14 Chhatries built as memorials to the rulers. Catriona was tired and went back to the hotel and David found there was an entrance and that our ticket from this morning got him in. On her way back to the hotel Catriona was stopped by 5 young men in a tuk-tuk who asked for a photo. Three of them jumped out and had their picture taken with her and then the other two did the same. Meanwhile David wandered through the site taking many photos. David went back to the hotel just before sunset and both went down to the Betwa river to watch the sunset and life go by.

At 6.30pm we all met up in the village to go to the Ram Raja Mandir, originally a palace but now a Hindu temple. We attended a Puja or prayer ceremony where many people were chanting and paying their respects to the idols. Afterwards we had dinner at a small restaraunt with the group and Badam who had come home to Orchha for a few days before his next trip, came to see us.